Credit for this one goes to Rick Stone, a.k.a. RoboWizard. I was having this problem and didn’t know what was causing it, and someone was smart enough (you’ll notice it wasn’t me) to put in a post about this in the RoboHelp forums.

Here’s the situation: The help author checks his WebHelp or FlashHelp output files in to a Subversion repository where the developers check in their code. This way, when the code is all rolled up for application builds, the help goes along for the ride. The help author has his output location set to a directory that is under Subversion control. However, every time he generates his output and tries to check it in, Subversion gives him an error. The help author rants and raves against Subversion, RoboHelp, and everything under the sun (you’ll notice that this also isn’t me).

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Microsoft lost a lawsuit, so they had to change the way that Internet Explorer handles items in <object> tags. That means Flash content. Before RoboHelp 6 I think it was, both the toolbar and the left pane suffered from Microsoft’s solution: When you hover over a Flash movie, it is outlined in gray, and a tooltip appears, announcing, “Click to activate and use this control.” An extra click was required before using the toolbar and the left pane. (In RH 6 and 7, only the nav pane gets this message.)

Very annoying.

Since not only did it annoy me to have to click a couple of extra times, I try to avoid stirring up irritation in my users if I can help it. Microsoft’s workaround is to use a JavaScript document.write function in an include file to write the >object< code into the page. But the way FlashHelp is set up, it’s not that simple.

Here’s how to make it work.

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This week, I’m going to post a series of tips about RoboHelp, mostly concerning FlashHelp. I realize that FlashHelp isn’t a commonly used output, at least not as common as Microsoft HTML Help or WebHelp, but in my opinion, that’s all the more reason to post about it. Often, those who do use it can’t find much on the Web to help solve their problems.

The Problem

When you generate a FlashHelp output from RoboHelp, you want to take a look on your computer before publishing the files to a server. But a warning comes up that says, “Flash Player has stopped a potentially unsafe operation.” It won’t let you view your output.

The Solution

Go to the Flash Player Settings Manager page on Adobe’s Web site. This link should take you directly to the security settings tab (see the image).

Then do the following:

1. Click the Always allow radio button.
2. Click the arrow in the dropdown box that says “Edit locations.”
3. Click Add location.
4. If you want an entire drive (which is what I did so I wouldn’t have to browse for a bunch of directories), just enter the letter of the drive, followed by a colon and backslash: “C:\”. If you want a specific directory, click Browse for folder, select the directory, and click Open.
5. Follow steps 2–4 for each directory where you want to allow Flash content to play unhindered.
6. To remove a directory, click on it, click the dropdown box, and click Delete location.

But wait—won’t you have to now document these steps for everyone who is going to be viewing your FlashHelp system so they don’t get this error? No, this is a problem when viewing the output locally, not when viewing it over the Internet. If you are sharing the help project with other writers, they’ll want to follow these steps as well.

With so many electronic storage systems that contain sensitive or private information, it’s inevitable that technical communicators are involved in documenting these systems. Personal, medical, and financial data reside in massive databases that someone probably uses an application interface to manipulate, and that someone may need some user assistance along the line.

Illustrations go with technical writing like chips with bean dip. But how do you document a system that deals with confidential information without displaying that information? Some people need little excuse for a lawsuit, and you don’t want it to be over what you did in the documentation. Management would frown more than a little on that.

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My brilliant idea was going to be a couple of pages added to this site. The first is a page that highlights books that I own and recommend, along with some descriptions. (Gordon McLean has a bookshelf page that is largely images only.) I still plan on doing that, and the object of posting that intention here is to make it a commitment. You’ve heard it here, folks, so I can hardly be a flake about it now, can I?

The other idea I had was a CSS reference mostly for myself, but which others may find useful. However, there’s something better.

Peter Grainge, Adobe Community Expert on RoboHelp, mentioned in a RoboHelp forum post that there’s a little, free-of-charge CSS editor out there called TopStyle Lite. TopStyle Pro will cost you, but Lite is still a nice tool and provides selector and property options as you go along. It has a Style Inspector that basically does what I would have done.

Not long ago I found a nifty little program called Force Window Visible (download here). I use a dual-monitor configuration at work, and at times I have to take my laptop into meetings. (To avoid undocking problems, I shut down, disconnect from the docking station, and start back up.) If I have to spend some time working away from my desk, I have problems with some windows and dialog boxes not appearing on my laptop monitor. Or, after I’ve gone back to my desk, things are not showing up on either of the two monitors.

Sure, if you’re using Windows like I do, you can try right-clicking on the program’s taskbar button, but I found that this didn’t always work for application windows. It also doesn’t work for dialog boxes, since they usually don’t give you a taskbar button.

But I downloaded and installed Force Window Visible, and then I put a shortcut to it in my system tray. Now, whenever I have a RoboHelp dialog appear off-screen, or (as recently happened) Captivate’s record window doesn’t show up, I open Force Window Visible. You do have to wade through a really long list of things that don’t seem to correspond to open windows, and there are some generic window names, so you may not be able to distinguish what they represent. But click an item, and bang!—it shows up on your screen.

If you’re expecting a dialog and your program instead locks up, try hitting the Esc key. If Escape livens your program back up, you are most likely getting dialogs off-screen. Use Force Window Visible to get those critters back where you can see them. It’s a great little tool—and it’s free.

A coworker asked me today about image resizing, and I mentioned to him a “cheat” I have used that he said he hadn’t thought of. Typically, when you reduce the size of an image in a graphics program, you get smoothing that fuzzes the picture. Not the best result. Sharpening the image then yanks colors apart so that, for instance, black text looks like it’s bleeding yellow and pink.

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